When friends get together and discuss a certain topic, they often find that social media ads related to that private conversation soon pop up. This oft-repeated situation has led to speculation that cell phones are listening in on conversations to personalize advertising. However, there is nothing wrong with this phenomenon. Kaspersky experts reject this idea and offer advice on how to protect your privacy if you feel uncomfortable about the situation.

The impression many people have that their mobile phone is listening to conversations and then tailoring online ads to them is primarily due to two factors – tracking online habits and sharing preferences between nearby devices.

Monitoring of online habits is done continuously while users are connected to the Internet. This includes the websites they visit, the products they view and buy, the searches they conduct, the content they like on social networks, and even the location captured by their device's GPS. This information allows companies to learn more about users' interests and preferences and provide personalized recommendations.

For example, if you search for hiking trails, you'll likely end up seeing ads for trips to places where hiking is popular, even if you didn't specifically search for that particular location.

However, the real culprit behind the myth that cell phones spy on conversations is the ability to share preferences between nearby devices. In other words, smartphones have a feature that allows them to share information about each other's shopping habits. Just as people share information when they talk, so do devices, in order to improve the personalization of online offers.

It is worth noting that this exchange is not related to the owner of the mobile phone, but to the Internet registration number (IP) of the device. This means that personal data is not "leaked". Technically speaking, what is transmitted is "metadata" that does not allow the identification of the persons involved.

"Every day we browse or consume online content, and this exchange between devices happens all the time. However, we don't notice it when it comes to general topics because we assume it's just mass advertising. However, this catches our attention when we discuss a certain topic, such as a trip to an unusual country or a certain product or service, and then see advertisements for it. These specific cases create the perception that the mobile phone was listening in on the conversation," explains Leandro Cuozzo, security analyst for Latin America at Kaspersky.

He recommends monitoring applications that actively monitor Internet usage behavior or interactions. To do this, simply check the permissions for each app and disable features that are considered invasive. If you want to limit the sharing of personal data, you can check your phone settings to prevent apps from accessing (and sharing with third parties) data about your browsing history or shopping habits.

To improve your online privacy, Kaspersky recommends using incognito mode. If you don't want to customize the whole configuration or you just want to hide the history of certain websites, you can use incognito mode.